Minimalistic 2 Bay NAS. Worth building or should I purchase one?

Been a while since I wanted a NAS. I was looking at entry level Qnaps but I just cannot justify the budget for that yet and also my inner geek want's to have some fun. I've ordered a Raspberry Pi yesterday but cancelled the order because it seems a little under powered for the task.

I was looking at some used motherboards last night with the recommended i3 processor but here in EU they seem a bit pricy (70-80 euros on ebay) and it seems it will cost me probably the same if I build it myself vs buying Qnap.

So if someone had the same goals please share your specs and . The good thing is I have a 128gb Samsung SSD laying around that can be used in the build so at least I'm not spending money there.

Off the shelf models.. eventually they'll be out of warranty and it may be next to impossible (or prohibitively expensive) to get parts, especially if it's a model that is out of production... Then you're left w/ a cool plastic box.

Build your own... it's simply a matter of hopping on Newegg, Amazon, etc.. and ordering what you need to fix any hardware issue. Not to mention you're not limited by the OS firmware on the store bought's. With OMV, if you want to install something that doesn't run through the webUI, it's simply a matter of understanding how to install and configure the app from console (which can usually be figured out via Google)

I'd also ditch the idea of raid1, and instead go w/ setting up a simple rsync job to sync the drives.

Not a huge an o MiniDLNA, but there's a plugin for it if you must use it.

Air Conditioners are a lot like PC's... They work great until you open Windows.

Perhaps two Odroid HC2? One for storage and one for backup. Good enough to stream without transcoding from Emby. Borderline for transcoding.

If you need a lot of storage and intend to get big NAS HDDs then the cost of the HC2 is dwarfed by the cost of the HDD. Also if you calculate price per TB storage and include the cost of connecting to the LAN, cable+GbE switch port, then the solution small SBC+huge HDD is pretty cost effective.

I have 12TB HDDs in my two main HC2 OMV NAS. 8TB in my backup HC2 OMV NAS. By using two HC2s you also get hardware redundancy and easy scalability. Just add more HC2s with big HDDs when you need more storage. They use 12 volts so it is easy to get a suitable PSU.

This is a good suggestion as well.. Assuming an OMV image is compatible (I'm sure @tkaiser will know the answer to this)... I was looking at that new RockPro64. They made a great 2bay case for it as well. You could probably pretty easy get a build in around $120 bucks. I have a regular Rock64 I like. I considered using it for OMV, but I didn't really care for running my drives via USB. Ended up using it as a Kodi box when one of the Fire TV's went out. Looks like the case solves this by adding a $10 2 port PCIE sata card.

Those ayufan images are also built from scratch (fully automated) and contain an identical set of optimizations as the 'official' OMV images for ARM boards.

But to be honest: If I would choose an SBC I'm with @Adoby here and would not add a bunch of disks to an SBC but use a bunch of SBC with one disk each. ODROID HC1 and HC2 (but not a single other ODROID) are very good NAS SBC choices.

I never knew about ODROID, especially the HC2 units that sounds pretty awesome. Just ordered one to test it out from US and hoping it won't be noticed by a customs office. European dealers are very expensive, HC2 with a clear top and a power adapter comes up to 110-120 EUR, madness.

So if/when I get the second one, RSYNC command will have to go through the network I assume, it is possible for it to cause network congestion? Probably could be resolved by buying a cheapo switch to keep it separate from my cable modem.

You don't really say which HC2 kit you got... but rather than getting another HC2, another option would be a USB to Sata cable, and just plug the "backup" drive into one of the usb ports, and then use rsync locally.. no network involved. Disconnect when you don't need it.

Air Conditioners are a lot like PC's... They work great until you open Windows.

You don't really say which HC2 kit you got... but rather than getting another HC2, another option would be a USB to Sata cable, and just plug the "backup" drive into one of the usb ports, and then use rsync locally.. no network involved. Disconnect when you don't need it.

So if/when I get the second one, RSYNC command will have to go through the network I assume, it is possible for it to cause network congestion? Probably could be resolved by buying a cheapo switch to keep it separate from my cable modem.

I have a 16 port GbE switch that I connect my 5 HC2s to using 25 cm cables. Along with an Asus Lyra mesh node. A HC2 can saturate a GbE cable. The switch has a switching capacity of 32 Gbps so there is room for more. Netgear GS316. The switch, the WiFi mesh node, the HC2s and a ultrasilent Noctua NF-A12x25 fan all run on 12 volt. So I could get a single 12 volt fanless PSU that powers everything. And I got a spare PSU, just in case...

I use cron to daily run rsync scripts to create a new snapshot of the specific folders I care about.

I got 4 HC2s directly from Korea. And I had a bit of luck with the customs fees...

It looks very geeky in the bookcase when all the LEDs on the HC2s and the switch ports are blinking frenetically.

You don't really say which HC2 kit you got... but rather than getting another HC2, another option would be a USB to Sata cable, and just plug the "backup" drive into one of the usb ports, and then use rsync locally.. no network involved. Disconnect when you don't need it.

My bad, I was thinking of another odroid device (I was reading about that new case, which is for the xu4.. which apparently tkaiser doesn't think highly of)

I think what you got there is fine. Put OMV on a microSD, then you'll have your internal drive for storage. Get the cable I mentioned earlier, and sync to that drive w/ rsync whenever you feel it necessary. If I was going to go the small SBC route, that's how I would do it.

Or you could do as Adoby says and back them up over the network.. really no wrong answer, just depends on how you want to handle it.

Air Conditioners are a lot like PC's... They work great until you open Windows.

Build one, that way you can get exactly what you want. I wasted about $600 on 2 off the shelf NASs that were garbage. I've slowly been upgrading mine over the past few years and now I have a powerhouse of a server that will hold about 90 TiB when I'm done adding drives in a few days.

Minimalistic 2 Bay NAS. Worth building or should I purchase one?

Build one, that way you can get exactly what you want. I wasted about $600 on 2 off the shelf NASs that were garbage. I've slowly been upgrading mine over the past few years and now I have a powerhouse of a server that will hold about 90 TiB when I'm done adding drives in a few days.

You must have DHCP enabled on the internet router/modem connected to the HC2 while you boot th HC2 with a new SD-card. OMV need to connect to the internet to complete the install!

You should be able to see the HC2 claim a local IP-address from the DHCP server. Typically 192.168.#.###.

Use a good SD-card.

Allow plenty of time for the install. The time needed depends on the SD-card and the internet connection. Typically just a few minutes with a fast card, but be patient...

Try to power-cycle the HC2 after a while and see if an IP-address is claimed on the DHCP server.

If you have assigned static IP-addresses manually in your LAN the static addresses may conflict with the addresses assigned by the DHCP server.

Run nmap or something similar and figure out how all addresses in the network are assigned. Static or dynamically using DHCP.

DHCP is enabled, both IPv4 and IPv6. I've connected a laptop to the same cable that was in HC2 and it worked fine, of course wifi was disabled. I've just changed the range of local IP addresses maybe that was causing HC2 not pick up an IP. Previously it was 192.168.10-150 and I've changed it to 2-254. Doesn't look like it helped though. I'll just leave it overnight.

The card is 16gb Class 10 HC1, so I doubt it is slow. Connection is 100 mbps

DHCP is enabled, both IPv4 and IPv6. I've connected a laptop to the same cable that was in HC2 and it worked fine, of course wifi was disabled. I've just changed the range of local IP addresses maybe that was causing HC2 not pick up an IP. Previously it was 192.168.10-150 and I've changed it to 2-254. Doesn't look like it helped though. I'll just leave it overnight.
The card is 16gb Class 10 HC1, so I doubt it is slow. Connection is 100 mbps

I assume that you mis-typed.

The DHCP IP ranges seem to be missing one number. For instance 192.168.1.10 to 192.168.1.150 is a valid range.

Also make sure that the DHCP server assigns a correct gateway and DNS-servers. Typically 192.168.1.1 for gateway (the modem/router itself) and 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for Google DNS.

...and as @tkaiser implies, try a different SD card. I use SanDisk A1 cards. A decent class 10 card from a reputable brand should work, but perhaps not as good for this purpose.